Saturday, October 15, 2005

National Sustainability Drive?

First, apologies for being MIA the last couple of days: some family/personal matters arose that required my immediate and undivided attention...

Thanks to my buddy Doug for pointing me to this post at BOPNews that proposes a framework for moving towards a more sustainable society: the "National Sustainability Drive." While I think we can (and should) argue about details within the plan, I do think that a broad framework like this is absolutely necessary for making genuine sustainable development a priority in the US. We, as a country/society, encourage individual actions (recycling, lower consumption) as well as single communal actions (higher CAFE standards, adaptation of more renewable energy), but without a plan to shift our context on the notions of development and growth, we're largely flying blind. While, unfortunately, I don't see such an ambitious plan receiving attention under our current political leadership, it's probably time to start discussing broader frameworks within the environmental/sustainability community -- we're often a bit too willing to focus our energies on the kinds of actions mentioned above without a broader vision (or, at least, without really promoting the larger vision).

As I mentioned to Doug and some other online buddies, I do think that frameworks like this have to re-conceive the relationship between the public and private sectors. Ultimately, I think we have to shoot for a relationship that looks much more like that proposed in Paul Hawken's The Ecology of Commerce (affiliate link): government acting slowly and deliberately in protection of the commons (in the broadest sense), and business acting quickly, flexibly and productively within the framework established by government. I'm largely butchering the concept in the interest of brevity, so feel free to correct and instruct...